Ph.D. opportunity at MIT/WHOI: Tree-ring reconstructions of eastern North American temperatures
We are looking for candidates for a fully-funded Ph.D. project in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program (http://mit.whoi.edu/home), starting in the Fall of 2014 and focused on developing and analyzing long temperature reconstructions from the northeastern United States over the last 2 millennia, mentored by myself and Jeff Donnelly, as well as Neil Pederson at LDEO. The project involves collecting and developing living and subfossil tree-ring chronologies from coastal regions from Maine to New Jersey, developing long temperature reconstructions from these data, and evaluating those reconstructions in the context of climate model simulations. This is an ideal position for someone eager to throw a chainsaw in the truck for a weekend of sampling in New England, but who would also thrive in the quantitative multidisciplinary environment of MIT and WHOI. Although prior dendrochronology experience would be an asset, it isn't required. The most important characteristics for potential students will be the flexibility and motivation to enjoy engaging in the field, laboratory, and analytical parts of the project.
The MIT/WHOI Joint Program is committed to providing five years of tuition and stipend support to every student who is admitted (in this case, two of these years will be fully funded through our project). The Joint Program also has funds to help students attend scientific meetings, conferences, and special courses and to support student research, as well as providing transportation options between the two campuses (Boston and Cape Cod) and housing at MIT and at WHOI.
Application deadlines for the Joint Program this year are January 5, 2014. More information on the application process, stipends, and other benefits can be found here:
http://mit.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=34215
These pages have additional information about the application process, including answering questions about undergraduate preparation and GREs:
http://mit.whoi.edu/undergradhttp://mit.whoi.edu/faqs
Students who might have an interest in applying should also contact me directly for more information.
thanks and best wishes,
Kevin
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Kevin J Anchukaitis
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Department of Geology and Geophysics
121A Clark Laboratory
266 Woods Hole Rd. MS #23
Woods Hole, MA 02543
+1 508 289 3943
kja at whoi.eduhttp://www.whoi.edu/kja